Some researchers say your personality is pretty much set by age three. And, by first grade, you've already got a pretty good glimpse of the kind of adult you'll become.
But that doesn’t mean nothing ever changes. You’re always becoming something. The question is what.
Maybe you’re becoming more generous, more patient. Or maybe you’re growing more bitter, more impatient or more distracted. To think you're the same person you've always been may ignore the way life shapes you. It doesn't take into account how your experiences of culture, community, pain and joy, for example, have all played their part in what you're becoming.
Evagrius Ponticus was a well known theologian of the church in the fourth century. His theological insight led him to the position of Archdeacon in Constantinople. With that position came power, status and reputation. But the weight of that life began to pull at him. He recognized what that influence was doing to him, and he made a bold move. He left it all behind. Went out to the desert. Traded the noise of the city for the stillness of the monastic life.
He wrote extensively on spiritual development. One of his reflections says: "A man in chains cannot run; nor can the mind enslaved by worldly attachments ascend to God." 
Evagrius knew something that still rings true: you don’t grow into the life of Christ by accident. While not ignoring the work of God's spirit, discipleship takes intention. It takes detaching from the pull of the world. Not to escape it, but to be transformed within it by the power of God.
Whether you're in the desert or the suburbs, you're becoming something. Who are you becoming? And what are you allowing to influence who and what you are becoming?
That's worth your consideration because, if you’re not paying attention, something other than Jesus will do the discipling for you.
Stay blessed...john | 
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